NINE

Why does this new blade from BBC have 9 plies? It’s simple, 9 is an amazing number! There are 9 Supreme Court Judges, Cats have 9 lives, the Solar System has 9 planets, Beethoven completed 9 Symphonies, and now there is a 9-ply blade that plays as good as it looks, so we decided the best name for this amazing blade was just simply to call it “NINE”.

It has five wood and four Nanotech carbon layers! The two outer plys are Hinoki; the core is Bombax; and all three are BBC-milled vertical grain! The two white Koto plys are cross-grain and each are backed by the carbon layers. All this provides a balance of power and resonance that add up to an offensive blade that has the speed and control required for today’s offensive-minded players.

"This is the fastest slow blade I've ever played with!"

That's what a longtime BBC blade tester (USA1700+) told Charlie after his first day using the NINE. The blade is really unlike any other BBC blade he had used or tested over the past 5-6 years because while it exhibits a low tone and low bounce on the bare blade ball bounce test, it has gobs of speed on the top end. Read: Gears, gears, and more gears! It's also fairly linear in how that power reveals itself as more effort is put into a stroke.

He was using Joola Rhyzm Tech (max) which is Joola's second fastest rubber. He reported that blocks and punch drives were very effective with this setup. Flat hits were fast and accurate. And FH loopdrives and slams were usually kills. But what was most unusual was the uncanny way this paddle could stop-block: The fastest loopdrives could be stopped in their tracks with a little wrist action on impact which is unthinkable for a blade/rubber combo with this much top end speed. Short serves with high spin were easily executed. Credit the gears.

Charlie isn't sure why this particular blade design exhibits these properties but he's sure happy he discovered it. After two years, this same tester finally put down his trusty BBC Excalibur in favor of the new BBC NINE.